Publisher provides data to subscribers via routers. Such as, in Information-centric networking (ICN), publisher provides data, the data are cached by routers, and then subscribers can efficiently access data through nearby routers (e.g., edge routers). While ICN has many promising properties, such as built-in security and in-network caching, it also brings challenges that might hinder its adoption if not satisfactorily resolved. Data access control is one of those challenges.
Various data access control mechanisms have been proposed for environments other than ICN, such as content distribution networks (CDNs). Data access control mechanisms depend on the amount of trust that can be assumed for data distribution entities (e.g., routers) in the CDN environments. CDN model assumes that the data distribution entities can be fully trusted by publishers and are responsible for distributing data to authorized users. Unfortunately, this model cannot be applied to ICNs, because ICN routers cannot be fully trusted and therefore cannot be delegated with access control enforcement.